VHS Memories: Night Of The Living Dead

We all have our reasons for being introduced to the world of horror at an early age; a clip running off a tv screen at a local video rental store, horrific yet enticing box art sitting on a shelf, or perhaps at a sleepover at “that kid who used to live down the street” ‘s place.

In a time of when searching cabins for Jason on the NES was nerve-wrecking, it was also quite common for any household to have their share of VHS mix-tapes; the ones compiled of random shows, specials, and films that were broadcast on television and recorded with or without commercials.

I considered my father an expert at making these: he could perfectly cut out the commercials to make smooth transitions via method of the pause button, with a bit of rewinding during the commercial break (call it a form of editing if you will).

While we had our share of mix-kiddie tapes (Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, followed by Disney music videos), we also had a ton of retro Horror/Sci-fi ones (compilations of mostly films from the 40s-60s). Thanks to this early exposure, Frankenstein was a household name and I was perhaps the only kindergartner who could spell it correctly. Of all the various tapes we had, there is one tape I remember too well for one reason: it started with Night Of The Living Dead and I could never get past the first scene.

I experienced NOTLD first when I was four or five years old at my Oma and Opa’s (grandparents in German) house around Halloween. I don’t recall much besides the commercial bumpers, an ending with Barbara rescued by the cops (don’t ask how I came up with that) and my mother teasing my sister about the little girl stabbing her mommy in the cellar (the safest place). I didn’t pay much attention and was rather busy trying to decide which version of my Batman action figures was up to fighting The Joker.

At age seven, I came across the tape and decided to check it out again. After five minutes, I pressed stop and ran away after viewing a ghoul attack a woman in a car. Bill Hinzman (rip) scared me so badly that I would never play that tape again and completely annihilated my so-called “if its black and white, it’s not scary” theory. It wasnt until several years later when I was a freshman in high school that I sat through the entire film. It aired on Halloween night on PBS and about five minutes into it when Barbara pulled that clutch, there was a quaint sigh of relief that I could finally watch the rest of the film without fear.

I’d like to hear your own tale of how NOTLD scared ya senseless!